You Do Know You're in Sickbay, Right?

Posted on Mon Dec 27th, 2010 @ 7:32am by Lieutenant JG Malia Jacy & Commander Michael Evans M.D.

Mission: Episode 1.3 - "The Time of Trial"
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Pre-MD01 of Confusion in the Cluster, 1032hrs

ON:
::BACKPOST::
[[USS Pandora, Main Sickbay, MD--, 1032hrs]]

If she'd have been on a planet, this would have been the kind of day where Malia could easily envision herself trotting along a park path with the sun rays playfully peeking through dancing branches to kiss her cheeks and arms amid a chorus of birdsong. Everything about the day since her feet had hit the floor this morning had carried her high spirits aloft with seemingly no downwind in sight. With her abundance of good feeling to spread, Mali thought it may be a good time to stop into sickbay. She knew that often the medical staff was met with reluctance and/or outright disdain; which she found sad really - almost every medical officer she'd ever known was pleasant both in and out of uniform. Nodding to an ambling pair in the corridor that she recognized by face alone, she breezed into sickbay smiling genuinely.

The man wearing Sciences Teal grunted and muttered under his breath as he struggled with the piece of equipment sticking out of the biobed. It looked like some sort of eviscerated organ hanging out of the access panel, and the middle-aged man was pushing on it as he tried to force it back into place. "Consarned goldemumblegineers can't movenupaneven...," he mumbled as he struggled. Hearing someone behind him he glanced up just long enough to register that it wasn't one of his superior officers, and he immediately turned back to his shovings. "Whadda-ya-want," he grunted.

Malia only needed a couple of seconds worth of observing to decide the man could probably use some help. "Can I give you a hand?" A few quick steps and she was at his side, and all around him, surveying his predicament.

"I could've used some help an hour ago," the man shot. He swore as his finger was pinched, then retreated to suck it while he glared at the woman wearing Services Gold. "Engineering finally send you up, then," he growled.

"Oh I'm much too pretty to be an engineer," Mali turned her smile up a couple hundred watts as she gently applied some pressure to the object, careful to watch his remaining nine unharmed fingers as she did so. "I actually just felt like stopping by - maybe an answer to your prayers?" She nodded to him as she motioned for him to push at the bottom. "Lt. Jacy, at your current service."

The man rolled his grey eyes. "Great. Another ray of sunshine," he muttered. "Jensen," he said by way of introduction, "and if you were an answer to my prayers you'd have a few more bricks of latinum with you." He pushed where Malia indicated and the device slipped smoothly into place, making a 'click' of finality as its contacts were secured. He stood up sucking his finger again, stooping at his height of five-seven, and began rummaging for a tissue regenerator, patently ignoring the woman who had just helped him.

"Answered prayers and miracles are two very different things," she informed him semi-seriously. "And, you're welcome, of course." It didn't matter that he hadn't thanked her. "How's your finger?" Malia eyed it with a small measure of concern.

Jensen shot her a quick glare, as if the pinched finger were somehow Malia's fault. "Why, are you a doctor now, too?" He'd found what he was looking for and ran it roughly over the digit a few moments before stopping, examining the finger closely, and sucking it one more time for good measure. "Talented, arn'cha?" He turned his back on Malia as he put the device away. "What else do you do around here?"

"Oh a little of everything," Mali watched him with a smile. He was like a sulking child and she sort of felt like she ought to offer him a lollipop ... or a juice box and a blankie. "What about you? You know, when you're not charming your assistants or seriously maiming yourself?" Her arms folded across her chest and her hip rested against the console as she watched him.

Jensen "harumphed" with a sideways glare at Jacy's quip and closed the biobed's access panel, then grabbed some nearby equipment and began placing them into their appointed cubbies none too carefully. "Med tech," he grunted as he tossed a hypospray into a drawer. "Mostly work in the lab, but I also tidy, repair medical equipment, and clean up after the hot shots are finished having their fun." He crammed a tricorder into a holding slot, then squinted at Malia. "Which department did you say you're from, Mary?"

"Operations. Your friendly neighborhood helpers," she held out her hands, offering to help him put the items away. "Why is sickbay so devoid of medical staffing today?"

The Crust dumped his armload into Malia's hands, and turned away as a PADD began to slip from the top of the pile. "Hot shots had a 'drill' today," he said as he began flicking some of the monitors back to their standard displays. "Now they're off to talk about it, I suppose." His tone indicated that he didn't think reviewing the drill was a worthwhile activity, especially if it meant he was still here while they weren't.

"I'm sure they appreciate that you feel they're so able in their jobs," Mali commented in reference to his 'hot shot' statement as she scrambled to catch the PADD and began to replace the items; a tad bit more carefully than Jensen had been doing. "Have you been aboard very long?" Malia thought maybe he'd be less cranky if he could talk about himself; some people were like that.

Jensen shot her another glance at the word "able," as if he weren't sure if she were serious or not. After a studied moment he continued his work with the monitors. "Since the last drydock," he said. "Evans was a damned fool to head back to that Romulan colony of miscreants; and he certainly shouldn't have brought any of 'em up to the ship," he growled. "I'm just glad they finally got rid of that Earlond," he said, changing to yet another tack of discontent. "That boy could never just do what he was supposed to." He shook a stray PADD stylus at Malia. "If people would just do what they're supposed to, Mary, it would save a lot of work for the rest of us."

Malia found it curious that most of the crew she'd heard speak of Commander Earlond was either solidly in his fan club or solidly outside of it. She'd yet to hear someone make the comment that the man was just okay. "I can't argue that point wtih you, Janeson," the Ops officer was pretty sure he was misprouncing her name on purpose. "But that's part of the fun of teamwork," she brightened as she placed the last of her stack in it's place and bumped the drawer shut with her hip. "Someone is always there to help make things move in the right direction. And really, what are any of us without purpose?"

"Too true, too true," he muttered as he shuffled to an open case of hypospray vials. "Just another cog in the wheel." He began placing stray vials into their appropriate slots in the case. "Moving things forward." He poked another into its slot. "Picking up after each other." Another one found a slot. "Grinding against each other in the well-oiled machine." He shut the case with a loud snap and shoved it onto a cart. "I'm glad somebody's got some eyes in their head," he looked at Malia.

Malia just smiled. At least he was speaking full sentances now, not just grunting and trying to be unpleasant. She folded her arms and allowed the counter to lend support to her weight as she watched him. "Sometimes our sight is just limited by our point of view," she winked. "Anything else I can do to help you out around here?" She was actually looking forward to speaking to Dr. Evans but she didn't want to push her presence off on Jensen for the duration of her wait since he obviously had things to do.

Jensen eyed her with a slight squint of suspicion. "Well... since you're offering, I could use a hand with those linens," he muttered.

OFF:

A joint post by:

Lt. JG Malia Jacy
Assistant Chief of Operations
USS Pandora

and

Crewman Richard Jensen
Medical Technician
USS Pandora
Played by: Lt. Cmdr. Michael Evans